The Bedard Era Begins: the 2023 - 2024 NHL Season Thread

[Commando]

Did anyone see that outlet pass from McNabb to Barbashev last night? Thing of beauty. Barby's deke-slap finish was solid, but all set up by the pass.

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nice wrist shot

[Donuthole]

nice wrist shot

Bruh, it wasn't on his blade. Note the windup. It's a baby slap, but it's a slap.

[beefytee]

Bedard is on the board!

[MartyFunkhouser]

Talk about things of beauty, Bedard's first goal was incredible.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ca.sports.yahoo.com/amphtml/news/blackhawks-rookie-connor-bedard-scores-first-nhl-goal-in-2nd-career-game-002130221.html

[MartyFunkhouser]

Bruh, it wasn't on his blade. Note the windup. It's a baby slap, but it's a slap.

Amazing pass. I'd say it is a snap shot

[Commando]

Amazing pass. I'd say it is a snap shot

Agreed. He corralled it and wrist snapped it into the goal- not a slap.

[MartyFunkhouser]

The Calder trophy race this year is going to be a fun one to watch.

Connor Bedard is the clear front runner. However, I can see a couple of players really giving him a run for it and possibly getting the trophy. The Blackhawks are a really terrible team with a terrible roster. Teams are really going to be able to key in on Bedard, and they are right now in the games that I watched. It is going to make it harder for Bedard to rack up points. He is also really young.

Logan Cooley is the biggest threat. The Yotes have a better roster than the Blackhawks. Cooley is easily going to get time playing the top center role. He has a year at Minnesota playing with higher level competition than anything Bedard has played against.

I can also see Fantilli in the mix, but right now he is getting only 15 minutes a game of ice time, as opposed to Cooley/Bedard that are skating close to 20 minutes a game (and over that for Bedard).

[Commando]

The Calder trophy race this year is going to be a fun one to watch.

Connor Bedard is the clear front runner. However, I can see a couple of players really giving him a run for it and possibly getting the trophy. The Blackhawks are a really terrible team with a terrible roster. Teams are really going to be able to key in on Bedard, and they are right now in the games that I watched. It is going to make it harder for Bedard to rack up points. He is also really young.

Logan Cooley is the biggest threat. The Yotes have a better roster than the Blackhawks. Cooley is easily going to get time playing the top center role. He has a year at Minnesota playing with higher level competition than anything Bedard has played against.

I can also see Fantilli in the mix, but right now he is getting only 15 minutes a game of ice time, as opposed to Cooley/Bedard that are skating close to 20 minutes a game (and over that for Bedard).

I'm happy he signed this year. A little surprising, but he's clearly ready.

[MartyFunkhouser]

https://theathletic.com/4975355/2023/10/18/connor-bedard-stats-blackhawks/

That’s how Bedard is looking at his first four NHL games. By almost any measure, Bedard has been sensational so far. The eye test shows how crafty and creative he is, and how incredibly smooth he is at zone entries, making one of the most important skills in the modern NHL look so easy. The analytics show that he leads the league with a whopping 20 individual scoring chances (per Natural Stat Trick), eight more than any other player (and eight of them of the high-danger variety). And the counting stats show a goal and two assists through four games, as strong a showing as you can reasonably expect from an 18-year-old.

[MartyFunkhouser]

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/blackhawks-phenom-connor-bedard-navigating-first-scoring-frustrations-of-hockey-career-162531825.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAZtSRKh8xlq3tuYO1Zxd1mbbrdwSkqXba6XpMWuQWkdkIC9hiMlSV4upSYL3WLBjakEOAvExSXdmIxG-3hlbaiJ8NvBfGpQm0375mjD4mSJTaGdTJyZyhNNnKl3vmJbBYJIWCWZ_u-hp9D_h-FBOPDhedaK1AMWIO5kzJdxd_DO

If Bedard keeps doing what he's doing, the results are going to come.

When he's on the ice, the Blackhawks have gotten 52% of the shots and 52.70% of the expected goals at 5-on-5 despite the relatively low quality of teammates he's working with. He leads the NHL in individual scoring chances at 5-on-5 (20), and the man at No. 2 on the list (William Nylander) sits at 12.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Blackhawks are so bad

[MartyFunkhouser]

Bedard now at 4 points in 6 games. 2 goals.

I watched the game against the Avs and it was clear he is not ready for the rigors of day-to-day playing in the NHL. He was clearly gassed from the roadtrip and multiple games.

He was good against the Knights when they were back home.

Also, nice to see Oliver Moore producing. Still think he was a steal in the draft.

https://theathletic.com/4988150/2023/10/23/blackhawks-oliver-moore-connor-bedard/

Korchinski is going to be a solid defenseman.

[beefytee]

Frozen frenzy has been fun to watch.

[MartyFunkhouser]

The Blackhawks are so terrible. The first pick is in play again this year.

[MartyFunkhouser]

It is driving me nuts watching this team. It is bad. So bad right now. There is no point to trying to win games with this team.

I hate watching Corey Perry play hockey for the Blackhawks.

Put Bedard and Reichel on a line together and let them develop together.

Let Korchinski pinch with abandon. If the other team scores who cares. It is about developing his skills at the point.

Denis Savard took this approach with Toews/Kane/Keith and it was absolutely right. It also probably got him fired, so I guess I don't expect Richardson to do it.